Wednesday, May 19, 2010

American Graffiti Pre-Show

This past weekend I was busy keeping the world safe for democracy, so I missed the chance to go to Petaluma's annual American Graffiti Tribute complete with a recreation of the cop car destruction scene. This was the first of at least three great events that I was bummed to be missing out on, but such is life for someone who is habitually triple-booked all the time.

Fortunately, I got a call just before I headed out asking if I was going to be going to the pre-show. I didn't know it, but many of the hotrod custom cars that were in town for the weekend were on display in a shopping center on the East side of town. With just two hours to kill, I headed over to take a look.

The lighting wasn't great (I spent most of my time shooting straight into the sun) but here's some highlights from the event.

First up was a replica of the hotrod that Harrison Ford was driving in the movie:For some reason, this Ford cabover really grabbed me:

There were some pretty nice Chevy pickups too:

Shiny was pretty much the order of the day here:

Here's a shiny old Ford:

And if you though it had a shortage of shine, he also had a shiny Higgins motorcycle hanging off the back:

Here's a nicely restored yellow Camaro with some choice details:

Of course, it's always the details that make all the difference:Speaking of details, I have to mention this particular car that was a bit out of place here:When I was a kid, I remember thinking what a cool car the Lamborghini Countach was. Now that I've spent some time standing around looking it over, I'm not so impressed. Maybe it drives great and I'm sure it was awesome when it was new, but now it looks kinda hokey. All of the plastic parts have yellowed and faded and the interior looks cheap and thrown together, and none of it looks very comfortable. I'm not sure what it was that I originally liked about this car.

The one that did not disappoint was the Shelby Cobra. No matter how many of these I see (even the replicas) I like them:There were a few here:

I failed to take pictures of the cop car or any of the other movie cars. To be honest, I don't actually remember the film all that well. Still, it looked like it was shaping up to be a good show and I'm disappointed to have missed it.